Liverpool's players are relishing their final week off before they reconvene for pre-season training at the AXA Training Centre. Arne Slot and his team will welcome back their players on Monday, July 7 to kick-start preparations for the upcoming season.
The Reds are aiming to defend the Premier League title they effortlessly clinched last season, finishing a comfortable 10 points ahead of Arsenal with four games to spare. With no significant international tournaments this summer, the Reds will have almost their entire squad at their disposal from the get-go next month.
Harvey Elliott and Tyler Morton will be given extra holiday time due to their efforts with England's Under-21 squad in their victorious European Championship campaign in Slovakia. However, the fact that Slot and his staff will have a full roster to work with throughout the summer schedule is seen as a significant advantage.
Last summer marked a new era at Liverpool, bringing about a change in direction for pre-season training. The dreaded lactate test under former boss Jurgen Klopp was replaced last season with the equally gruelling Six-Minute Race Test (6MRT).
As the name suggests, this endurance test lasts for six minutes around a 400m race track, with participants encouraged to run as fast as possible to cover a distance between 1.5 and 2km.
Jarell Quansah, Conor Bradley, and Sepp van den Berg were all involved in last year's run, under the watchful eyes of fitness coach Dr Conall Murtagh and head of performance Ruben Peeters, with Slot also in attendance.
Curtis Jones and Kostas Tsimikas joined the fray later for their bespoke training sessions, yet it was Mohamed Salah who emerged as the standout performer later that week, showcasing his remarkable stamina and laying the groundwork for what would become a memorable season.
"It's important to show your mentality," was the advice imparted to Salah and Wataru Endo by Dr Murtagh last year. "Show the lads how it's done as leaders in the group."
Mohamed Salah and Arne Slot in the gym at Liverpool's AXA Training Centre.
Mohamed Salah and Arne Slot last summer (Image: Photo by Nikki Dyer - LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Salah heeded this counsel, breaking away from his teammates to lead the pack at the AXA Centre, and Slot made a point of personally communicating a similar sentiment days later. The Egyptian star shared that his head coach took him aside for a frank discussion about the upcoming season's expectations.
"In pre season, Arne came to see me and asked me to be an example for the other players," Salah recounted to L'Equipe last month. "I told him not to worry because I'm always at my best - not to set an example, but because that's who I am. He told me what he expected of me in the game, with a lot of responsibilities in running, which I liked.
"In pre-season I remember he got a few clips of me in the warm-up – it's the warm-up! I was doing like this (keepie-ups) and he was like: 'What is that? Look at that, you have young players behind you and all of them follow'. He is very honest and speaks to you right away. I think that makes a huge, huge difference."
But it's not just the gruelling runs that have seen an overhaul under Slot's watchful eye. The goalkeeper division at Liverpool, now managed by Fabian Otte, has also experienced a transformation this summer with new signings Giorgi Mamardashvili, Armin Pecsi, and Freddie Woodman, embracing a novel approach introduced at the AXA Training Centre last year which looks set to stick around.
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In their routine training sessions last season, the club’s goalkeepers experimented with cutting-edge glasses designed to constrict their view, aiming to sharpen their reflexes and bolster assurance when on the ball.
The Reds kick off their pre-season schedule against Preston North End at Deepdale just six days into training, before jetting off to Hong Kong to face AC Milan at Kai Tak Sports Park on July 26. The team then flies to Japan for a match against Yokohama F Marinos at Nissan Stadium on July 30.
Anfield will host back-to-back friendlies with Athletic Club on August 4, ahead of the Community Shield clash with FA Cup winners Crystal Palace at Wembley on Sunday August 10.
With a free week between the Preston friendly and the trip to the Far East, Liverpool may consider organising a behind-closed-doors friendly as Slot fine-tunes his squad ahead of their season opener at home against Bournemouth.